#41

Two days ago, we marked the 41st anniversary of John Coltrane's passing. Even now, I'm wondering about the musical directions which Trane could have taken had he not left this earth so soon; up to his death, the man was on a mission as if he still had so much to say, so much unexpressed emotion which needed to get delivered to us through his tenor saxophone.

At this point in his career - & in the august of his life - Trane was moving into a freer vibe with his playing & his bandmates in the Quintet were the perfect fit for his undertakings. Not only was the music more intense, more passionate, more calm, more turbulent - & each of those four adjectives have always been perfect ways to describe John Coltrane's style of play - but it was starting to find focus as well, as the recordings on Stellar Regions point out so vividly. If JC had lived a while longer, this is what his music would have sounded like for sure.

The next question is, if Trane were still alive, would he have gone the route his role models did & made music which was pleasing to the ear or made smooth jazz elevator music (think Miles Davis in the 1980s) or would he have been the same fearless man as always, relentlessly plotting new musical ground for us to take note of, taking his music to previously unchartered turf? In my own personal opinion, I feel that he would have chose the latter route. At a time when record companies wanted their artists to sound more commercial, more accessible (& therefore help sell more albums), Trane stuck to his guns & the powers that be couldn't stop him from staking claims to freer, more celestial musical realms.

Had Trane not left us so soon, who knows what his music would have sounded like. But we can be grateful for the body of work he left behind for us to listen to, to take note of, to appreciate after multiple listens & most of all to love.